The British Council in association with the Premier League and Kenyan organisations have began implementing a pilot program worth Sh256 million that uses football to tackle violence against women and girls in Western and Nyanza regions.
The three year program that addresses gender based violence through sports was first piloted in mount Elgon region and is now being replicated in Kisumu county before being rolled out in the violence prone areas.
It will be implemented locally in partnership with the county governments, Football Kenya Federation, AFC Leopards and Moving Goalposts in Kilifi.
According to the British Council Country Director Tony Reilly, the initiative will focus at adapting the community engagement models used by the English Premier League clubs to deliver regular community football sessions for young people in the counties with a focus on the prevention of gender based violence.
“We are targeting young people between the ages of 10 and 20 and the wider communities. We want to create a space for our young people from Kisumu and Bungoma to engage in weekly football sessions to address harmful social attitudes and to empower them to speak out on issues of gender based violence,” said Mr Reilly.
The program also aims at developing skills around teamwork, fair play, self-confidence and respect for others.
It aims at building an evidence base for the prevention and response to violence against women and girls through sport in order to inform policy and practice around gender inequalities and also the use of sports for development across communities.
“We have embraced an inclusive community football coaching with young people as a means to address negative gender stereotypes and attitudes towards violence, challenge harmful relationship dynamics between men and women, and ultimately change behaviour and reduce the incidences of violence,” he said.
He added: “We are using male coaches who become their role models. Women and girls who may have been victims of past abuse or survivors of gender-based violence will hopefully learn their rights and find avenues for seeking redress,” Mr Reilly said.
Alongside the weekly football and education sessions, a multi-media advocacy campaign will reinforce the programme’s messages within the wider community through radio broadcasts, community awareness-raising events centred on football matches and support from high profile champions speaking out against gender-based violence.